What Happened, Mr Reese?
by poi922
Summary: A library vignette: Reese fullfills his role as a go-for, but misses the importance of 'getting it right'. Kind of takes up where "He Thinks I'm His Own" leaves off...


Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Such a pity...

NOTE: This story is the aftermath of "He Thinks I'm His Own"

* * *

"What happened Mr. Reese?"

Finch had opened the lid on the carton, peered inside and with an expression of incredulity voiced his concern.

"I don't know, Finch. What happened?"

"Very funny. I'm talking about my donut!"

Reese got up from his customary chair by the desk and brushed the fine sugar off his shirt before taking the box from Finch.  
He looked inside, puzzled. "I count four donuts left in there Finch. That not enough for you?"

"Of course. But the one I wanted is not there. And I specifically asked you to get my favorite."

His lips pursed, his tone offended, and with those eyes staring intently through the round wire rims he had chosen to wear today, Finch looked for all that like an affronted rooster. Reese hid his smile. His employer would not appreciate the comparison.

He pointed to the box's interior. "Look…there's the one with the sprinkles. I didn't forget…"

"That was yesterday's order. Today I wanted the vanilla iced."

Finch snatched the carton back and lowering himself into his desk chair, set the box on his side of the desktop.  
Reese wondered if he was going to be able to get even one more of the four left.

"And don't you normally get half a dozen? Why are you bringing back only five lately?"  
Finch looked at his employee sharply. Then narrowing his eyes, "Did you eat one before you got here?"

"Well, no…I didn't…"

"I see. You didn't."

"I didn't."

"Then who did?"

Reese sighed and moved back to the chair. He should have been ahead of the game and just bought an extra one.  
But who could have foreseen that the genius-geek would place so much value on a piece of fried dough?

"I have a stalker. To get rid of him I've been sacrificing one of the donuts…"

"A stalker…!" Finch fixated on the one word that raised his paranoia level to red alert.  
"Do you know who? Where? How long has this been going on…?"

Reese reached across Finch and dragged the box back to his side of the desk.  
If he remembered correctly, there was still one with chocolate icing in there…

"Just a few days..." he replied, deciding the last question was easier to answer than the first.  
The chocolate was satisfactorily sweet, the donut still warm enough that his fingers sank into the dough as the icing slicked his fingers.  
He hummed his satisfaction, savoring the first bite.

"And just when were you planning on telling me this?" Finch sputtered.  
"This is serious Mr. Reese! This location may have been compromised and we could be looking at some criminal activity in the planning."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it, Finch. My stalker is only interested in the donuts, nothing else."

Finch stared at his employee, his expression clearly telegraphing that he found Reese to be exasperatingly dense this morning.  
"What does he look like? Maybe I can pull up some information on him…"

"Well, let's see…" Reese busied himself licking the icing off three fingers, not unaware of Finch's disapproval of such actions.  
Disapproval borne out by the appearance of several napkins fluttering down on the desk in front of him.

"Blond hair. Brown eyes. Not too big…"

Finch scoffed, pulled the carton away from his employee again and carefully removed the colorfully sprinkled donut from the box.  
Reese watched in fascination as the older man extracted the confectionary and took a bite without one single sprinkle dropping to the desk top. Amazing.

"That's not much to go on." Finch said between bites.

"Well, he was wearing a red collar. With tags. And he seemed very friendly, especially after I gave him the donut. Your donut, as it turns out…"

Finch took another small bite and stared at him in silence.  
Finally he said, "Tomorrow, I want my vanilla iced donut." He carefully wiped his mouth on the napkin.

"And don't feed the wildlife Mr. Reese. We'll never get rid of them otherwise."


End file.
